Thundersdawn PT4: ThunderGate
by Chaos Eternus
Summary: Part 4 of the Thundersdawn Series. The United Kingdoms First SG team are ambushed on their 1st mission. Complete.
1. Breifing

**ThunderGate**

Part 4 of the Thundersdawn Series, by Chaos_eternus

Disclaimer: I do not own, nor do I claim ownership of characters or concepts from StarGate SG-1, Chocky's Challenge, or Down Periscope.

Timeline: Starts During Part 3: Dauntless

Chapter 1: Briefing

The six members of RSG-1 strode into the briefing room behind Colonel O'Neill, they had been training for off-world missions for a month and now they would finally get their first real mission, even if it was a support mission for SG-1. Colonel Pierce was first, a ten year veteran of the SAS, Pierce had more blank spots or classified notices in her record then anything else. Pierce was followed by Major Williams, an SBS marksman with a laconic nature, Williams didn't say much, but when he did you listened. Major Tobias came next, another SAS veteran, Tobias was the team medic and was often teased about her small size. Captain Pickstock was the brains of the team, a small dark skinned Marine; Pickstock had BSC's in Chemistry and Astrophysics. Captain Brown came fifth, the teams explosives expert, Brown was on special detachment from the 11th EOD (Explosives Ordinance Disposal), and had spent 4 years in Northern Ireland in which he had successfully deactivated 67 terrorist bombs. Finally came Colour Sergeant Jolly "Pirate" Rogerson, Pirate could be trusted 110% in combat, but had never been promoted beyond Colour Sergeant due to his tendency to get caught with the wives of highly ranked officers, and on a least two occasions, their daughters. 

RSG-1 sat down quickly, as General Hammond and the rest of SG-1 filed in.

"5 hours ago we received word from the Tok'ra that SG-11 has been captured by a group of hostile Unas on PC-49X, and they are now being held to ransom for guns and ammunition. Your job is to retrieve SG-11, with as few casualties as possible."

"How many Unas are we talking about?" Pirate asked.

"At least 70, all using staff weapons and Zats, all of which appear to be running low on Naquada." 

"Any sign of Goa'uld?"

"The Unas are camped in an old temple which appears to bear the markings off Osiris" Daniel replied, "but it doesn't appear to have been maintained in centuries, as far as I can tell from the UAV images"

"Any former HRT on base?" Pickstock spoke, turning to face Hammond.

"Both are off-world, any further questions?" Hammond glanced around at the members of SG-1 and RSG-1, "You have a go, depart 0600"

The two teams walked quickly into the gateroom, RSG-1 already used to the gate from their off-world training missions. This would however be their first real mission, and they were nervous.

"So, ah O'Neill, when you were touched, how long did it take anyone to notice?" Captain Brown asked a teasing glint in his eye.

"Captain Brown" O'Neill started to say but was interrupted by Carter;

"About a week, why?"

"Carter?" O'Neill replied menacingly.

"Of course, we noticed Daniel straight away, the nurses especially keep on close eye" Carter Paused, then added in a rush "on his health, of course"

RSG-1 took one look at the blushing Daniel Jackson, and chuckled.

"Oh, chase the ladies do you Daniel?"

"Is there a lighthouse in here? Oh, sorry that's you DJ."

O'Neill smothered a chuckle, as the gate opened with a whoosh of energy.

"Enough teasing people, Yellow brick roads open, let's go."


	2. Danger!

Chapter 2: Danger!

The ten soldiers poured through the gate, quickly taking defensive positions. Seeing no-one and hearing only the twittering of birds, they hurried to the tree line, quickly entering the cover of the dense foliage of the tropical jungle, and moving stealthily towards the ancient ruins three miles away.

"No birds" Major Williams noted laconically, after they had gone about 2 miles.

"Major Williams is right; I have not heard any birds for quite some time"

"Something must have sent them scurrying since we arrived" Colonel Pierce noted, glancing at the more experienced Colonel O'Neill, who was in overall charge of this mission.

"All right, heads up people, keep your eyes and ears peeled at all times"

They moved slower, stealthier the last mile to the temple where SG-11 was being held by the Goa'uld, a feeling of danger settling over the teams making them jumpy. O'Neill was worried, he could feel eyes watching him from the surrounding jungle, but could see nothing, so he tried, and failed to shrug the feeling of unease off.

SGC

Alert sirens and red lights filled the room, as SF's rushed into the gateroom, pointing P90's, SAW's and rifles at the massive circular trinium/titanium alloy edifice of the iris.

"Sir, receiving IDC, it's the Tok'Ra Sir."

"Open the Iris." Hammond replied.

With a metallic groan, the plates of the iris shifted apart, retracting into the stargate just in time for General Carter / Selmac to step through. Hammond smiled, of all the Tok'Ra, Carter / Selmac was the one he would rather deal with. 

"SF's stand down, Jacob it's good to see you." Hammond said as he strode through the blast doors into the gateroom, the SF's filing out behind him, "We got your message, SG-1 and RSG-1 are dealing with it now."

"What message?"

"About the Unas who captured SG-11 on PC-49X"

General Carter's voice turned gravelly as Selmac took over, "We sent no such message, and the IDC hasn't left our person since our last visit."

Hammond stared in horror at Jacob / Selmac for a moment, before rushing back up to the control room followed by a worried Jacob Carter.

"SG teams 2, 3 and 5, report to the gateroom equipped for a rescue mission immediately." Hammond flicked the intercom off, and turned to Master Sergeant Siler, "get a MALP and a UAV in the gateroom and ready to go" Hammond started to turn back, but stopped and added "Congratulations on the promotion by the way, you have more than earned it" 

Five minutes later, the three SG teams poured into the gateroom, having bypassed the whole loaded for bear idea, and gone straight to loaded for grizzly. Hammond could see at least 3 SAW's, as well as their usual P90's, pistols and a frankly ridiculous number of grenades and claymores clipped all over their fatigues. Every person had also grabbed a Zat, Hammond blinked, and it appeared Colonel Reynolds wanted to play with the miniguns. Again. Reynolds sure loved those things. 

"Dial up PC-49X and send the MALP through."


	3. Ambush!

Chapter 3: Ambush

O'Neill and Pierce looked over the temple carefully with their binoculars, seeing few guards, but many signs of a fight. Small chunks of masonry had been blown off the temple, sunlight glittered off discarded shell cases, and several Unas bodies were piled, unmoving in a corner.

"All right, Pierce wait for our signal then hit the front door, distract them, we'll go in the back way and find SG-11, copy?"

"Copy"

O'Neill gestured at the other members of SG-1 who faded off into the underbrush, circling around the temple. Pierce nodded approvingly at the level of skill shown by the team, even, he had to admit; Daniel Jackson had gotten quite skilled at moving stealthily in the jungle.

A snap of a breaking twig behind him made Tobias snap around her P90 at the ready, she looked directly at where the twig had snapped nothing, slowly carefully she looked all around the area, but still saw nothing. Yet she still felt like she was being watched, and as an SAS veteran, she knew to trust that. 

"Guys, ever we've got someone who very good at keeping hidden, or we need TER's out here, PDQ!" She whispered quietly to her team-mates.

Colonel Pierce cursed inwardly, TER's, that's all they needed, a cloaked hostile in the area. He was reaching for his radio to warn SG-1 when something cold and metallic pressed into his neck, and a guttural voice spoke;

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Slave!"

"What the?" RSG-1 turned around quickly, trying to see who had spoken to their boss, they saw nothing, except the lightning glow of ZAT fire racing towards their bodies.

O'Neill slowly led SG-1 through the numerous corridors of the temple, searching for the missing SG team, hiding quickly in side rooms and alcoves as sentries passed, occasionally having to use a knife on any Unas who saw them, before they could shout the alarm. It took them half an hour of searching, but they eventually stumbled across the cells where SG-11 were held, only to find 3 Unas guarding the area, one with a personal forcefield. O'Neill swiftly silently reached down the webbing of his fatigues, and removed a pair of knives; he gestured at his team-mates to take the unshielded Unas, then aimed and threw the first knife. It flew straight and true, the shielded Unas dropped, clutching at the knife buried in its throat as Daniel, Carter and Teal'c fired at the surprised Unas, killing them before they got a shot off in return.

"Pierce, this is O'Neill, we have the package, raise hell out there!"

Colonel O'Neill paused in his handing out of SG-11's liberated weaponry, worried;

"Colonel Pierce?"

"RSG-1, come in!"

"No response from RSG-1 on the radio, we need to leave now!" he snapped, hurrying SG-11 on.

They moved swiftly through the corridors to the main entrance, checking the rooms as they passed for RSG-1, not worrying about being quiet, firing at the cell guards should have warned everyone in the temple.

'Should have' O'Neill noted, 'being the appropriate word' as they passed through another eerily silent corridor, without seeing or hearing a single Unas, or anyone else for that matter. Suddenly their radios came to life with a burst of static, O'Neill hoped it was RSG-1, but had the distinct feeling it wouldn't be.

"Sierra-Golf Units, this is Sierra-Golf-Charlie, respond."

"This is Sierra-Golf-One, Be advised, Romeo-Sierra-Golf-One is _not_ responding."

"Roger that, be advised the Tok'ra did not, I repeat _did not_ inform us of the location of SG-11, they didn't even know SG-11 had been captured."

Hammond voice crackling over the radios sent a sliver of fear through O'Neill, he ignored it, they had more important things to do.

"Okay people, we appear to be on the wrong side of someone's ambush, lets double time it." 


	4. Captured

Chapter 4: Captured.

Pirate came to with a start and a groan as the lingering pain from the Zat blast hit him. He shook it off, and looked around the cell, noting that all of RSG-1 was present and slowly waking back up. He looked closer at the walls and cursed, this didn't appear to be the old temple on PC-49X, this looked a lot like the inside of a Goa'uld ship. 

"Not good" he noted, and then moved to wake the rest of the team up, "Wakey Wakey, rise and shine cos the shit just hit the fan, and we're covered in it."

"Shit, remind me never to get Zatted again." Pierce rose to her feet, glanced around the room and the solid looking door, and cursed, she hated getting captured.

"Fine, I'll ask the next group of Jaffa nicely to use their staff weapons instead of the zats shall I?"

"Can the sarcasm, Brown." Pierce glared at the captain, before returning to her inspection of the room.

A clunk in the ceiling made RSG-1 look up as a small object dropped through the hastily closed opening, Brown glanced at it and cursed, knowing what was gonna happen next;

"Well, Shit!" A flash filled the room and RSG-1 fell unconscious to the floor they had only just risen from.

Pirate once again awoke first, with a curse as he tested the straps holding him to the cold solid marble table. He glanced around the room and noted quickly the solid gold walls and floors, the Goa'uld markings, and the Jaffa guards who had the mark of a snake branded into their foreheads. Pirate glanced closer at the mark; it wasn't a mark he had been shown in their briefing on the snakes, which meant a new Goa'uld to deal with, perfect. Well, he noted as he glanced to the sides, at least the teams all here.

Pirate waited patiently as the rest of the team woke up, muttering comments about paracetamols and hangovers. He wished fervently that it was that simple, if a Parrcetamol could get them out of this…

"What the hell was that?" Pickstock cursed; trying to bring his hands far enough up so that he could hold his head against the pain.

"Shock grenade" Brown replied.

"Well, Shit!"

"Silence!" the shout boomed through the room from the Jaffa guards on the door as the clumping sound of approaching Jaffa echoed through the room. The door opened and twenty Jaffa stepped in, lining the room, their zats pointed directly at RSG-1 as they lay strapped to the tables. Behind them came a tall wizened man in radiant purple silk robes with flashing eyes.

"I find myself in need of a new host." the Goa'uld spoke, his voice guttural and cruel-sounding, "Which one of you shall have the honour of serving your God?" 


	5. Hidden Shadows

Chapter 5: Hidden Shadows

O'Neill glanced quickly around the corner of the entrance, all clear, he moved quickly onto the steps of the temple and looked all around the clearing then to the forest surrounding this old temple, all clear, in fact, O'Neill noted with a frown, no sign of the Unas anywhere, even the dead bodies had been removed. Something didn't feel right here. 

"All right people, we're heading for the gate to rendezvous with reinforcements then we're coming looking for RSG-1, lets go!"

The StarGate team members rushed down the steps of the temple, trying to cover the exposed space in as little time as possible, Carter getting to the bottom of the steps first, and running on towards the forest.

A solid thunk made O'Neill look up as Carter bounced off an unseen object and hit the ground. 

"Carter!" 

She didn't move, O'Neill cursed and carefully made his way over to her. Teal'c probed forward with his staff, quickly hitting the cloaked object. He moved closer, and felt the shape of it with his hands as O'Neill and Daniel saw to Carter, SG-11 providing cover.

"O'Neill! It appears to be a cloaked Goa'uld vessel"

"Well, any bets as to where RSG-1 are?"

"No bet, Daniel" O'Neill thumbed his radio on, "Sierra-Golf-Charlie, this is Sierra-Golf-One, come in."

"SG-1, this is SG-2, we are at the gate, SG-3 and five are with us."

"Roger that, be advised we have a cloaked Goa'uld ship here."

"Damn, SG-2 and 5 on-route, SG-3 is covering the gate, catch you in 5."


	6. The Lair Of The Beast

Chapter 6: The Lair Of The Beast

It took them so time, but they were finally able to find an entrance to the vessel by feeling all around the outside of the ship, all the time wondering why they hadn't been spotted, or more likely, why they were being ignored.

The four SG teams entered the temple slowly and cautiously, fanning rapidly out around the edges of the vast entranceway they found themselves in. This was clearly a room meant to impress with its high vaulted ceiling, the gold and marble covering every surface and the statues of an unknown Goa'uld, there construction marking them as having come from all different cultures, Christian, Mayan, Egyptian, Incan and more. 

The teams spoke not a word as they headed to the usual location for brigs on Goa'uld vessels, instead gesturing their orders with their hands, and communicating their worry with their eyes. They did not come across a single Unas, Jaffa or Goa'uld, and yet they saw numerous signs or their occupation. To Colonel O'Neill this just screamed trap, and the others saw it too, but they had no choice but to proceed onwards.

Eventually they reached the brigs, and O'Neill found himself smiling. 'RSG-1 was here, maybe this would be easy' he thought as he blew the lock off the door with his silenced Desert Eagle pistol.

SG-1 stepped into the room as SG-2, 5 and 11 covered their six, "First mission and you get captured, you guys really are trying to emulate us, SG-1 ain't you?"

Pierce stood up and walked towards SG-1, a glimmer of amusement in her eyes, "More than you know"

"Excuse me?"

Carter and Teal'c stiffened, and raised their guns, pointing them at Colonel Pierce, "Sir," they shouted, the tones of their voices grabbing O'Neill's attention like a kick to the balls, "She's a Host!"


	7. Trouble, Capital T

Chapter 7: Trouble, Capital T.

A Flash of movement out of the corner of O'Neill's eye made him turn around in time to see Zats raising in the hands of the RoyalSG team, 'Oh _shit…_' 

"Cover!" he shouted, diving out the cell door as the Zats began spitting their bolts of energy, Carter and Teal'c falling as if pole axed.

Major Penhall dropped to the floor and glanced around the bottom of the cell door, quickly ducking back behind cover, cursing.

"Pierce has a hand device, the rest of the team appear to be nishta'd"

"Zats everyone, Pierson break out your blade!"

Adam Pierson cursed silently as he hefted the heavy modern blade he used for off-world missions, curse SG-5 for visiting just when he and the Highlander were sparring! Now he had a reputation as being an exceptional swordsman, and as well as being required for his linguistic ability, he was expected to dice and slice system lords with personal shields too. Damn Boy scouts, least he could leave his Ivanhoe back at base, he didn't want to lose that off-world, oh yeah, and at least they hadn't figured out he was immortal. That would, as the modern generation put it, suck.

"Quickly people! That clomping you here is far too many Jaffa heading our way for my liking"

Pierce stepped through the doorway and Methos attacked, swinging his sword deftly at the former Colonel. The Goa'uld ducked, and attempted to grab the blade with his hand; Methos quickly shifted the blade and swung again as the rest of RSG-1 poured through the cell doors, quickly falling to Zat fire.

The clomping of the approaching Jaffa hoard grew louder as the fight between Methos and Pierce continued, O'Neill and Reynolds standing with knives at hand, waiting for a clear shot.

"SG teams this is SG-3" the words blared through the radios, chilling the SG team-members to the bone "Our position overrun, engaged by 70+ Unas, am escaping through the gate, Good Luck! SG-3 Out"

Pierce laughed, breaking off from the fight with Pierson as Jaffa poured into the area, surrounding the SG teams with overwhelming numbers.

"You cannot win! Surrender now and you will live long lives in service to your god, very long lives in fact; I have several servants in need of new hosts"

O'Neill cursed as he looked over at the Jaffa surrounding him, there were far too many of them, and they appeared to be led by lesser Goa'ulds too, all of whom had their shields up. This was _not_ good.


	8. Shol'Va!

Chapter 8: Shol'va!

O'Neill glared around at all of the Goa'uld's and Jaffa again, he really didn't like being captured, but he did wonder if it was the host or the Goa'uld in charge in that female Goa'uld… O'Neill's train of thought derailed. He was wondering who was in charge? He wondered what his mind had spotted that his eyes appeared to have missed. He glanced casually around again, she caught his eye and he saw innocence and determination within. She flicked a casual hand gesture at the Jaffa behind her, and their staffs shifted slightly, pointing not at the SG-teams, but beyond them.

"You cannot win, put down your weapons or die" the thing that controlled Colonel Pierce said, exasperated.

"Actually" Colonel O'Neill said, with the tones of someone imparting great wisdom, moving in front of the other SG teams where they could all clearly see him, "We can win"

The Goa'uld snorted, amused, "Really, How?"

"Well" O'Neill said, gesturing frantically with his hands behind his back where Pierce couldn't see them, "All it would take is an unexpected event, a curveball"

Pierce looked at O'Neill, pity in his glowing eyes, "Really, you expect the Asgard to come riding to you rescue again, or a caped avenger perhaps?"

"No, but I'm willing to find out" O'Neill hit the ground as the SG teams opened fire on the Goa'uld and the Jaffa beyond him with everything they had, quickly joined by the Jaffa of the unknown Goa'uld.

"Enerina! Kree!" Pierce shouted in shock.

She contemptuously raised her hand device and blasted a shockwave at Pierce over the heads of the SG teams, it was distraction enough. Pierson swung and Pierces head flew from his body. 

"Fall back!" O'Neill shouted as the loyal Jaffa surged forward to retrieve their fallen master.

"Tau'ri! We must take the bridge! There is another ship at the gate with more Jaffa and Unas, we'll never get through"

O'Neill looked her straight in the eyes and saw no deceit, he nodded, "Okay guys, we're taking this ship home!"

The loyal Jaffa fell back through the corridors and headed quickly to the other Ha'tak. They knew the masters favourite Ha'tak was no place to be at this time. Not with 5 SG-teams, one of which was SG-1 and Enerina's shol'va Jaffa on-board. They would have to use the spare sarcophagus to revive him. 

And hope someone else got the pleasure of telling their Lord that his favourite Ha'tak, the one he had carefully upgraded to be the best Ha'tak in any Goa'ulds armoury, was now in the hands of the Tau'ri, and that his daughter had turned Shol'va. They all slowed down as they headed for the Ha'tak, they were not looking forward to this, no, they were not looking forward to this _at all_.


	9. Explanations

Chapter 9: Explanations

SG-1 gazed uneasily at Enerina as she strode back into the Ha'taks Bridge, she might have helped them escape but it begged the question, why? She didn't act anything like a Tok'ra and Goa'ulds would never wear themselves out to the point of exhaustion ensuring all their Jaffa were healed. That meant she was an unknown and no-one likes unknowns.

Enerina dropped into the only chair on the bridge, an ornate affair obviously meant for the unnamed snake in Colonel Pierces head only. She signed, and looked towards O'Neill.

"It seems I have an apology to make to you"

"Excuse me?"

"I shouldn't have done it really, but I felt the situation demanded it"

"Demanded what, exactly?"

"Messing around with your mind like that"

"WHAT!?!"

Enerina looked curiously at O'Neill, it appeared he hadn't noticed or realized. Interesting.

"You didn't wonder about why you were so quick to trust me?"

Daniel looked up warily, "It was a little out of character"

"My host, Falco Del Ameris, is empathic"

SG-1 glanced at each other in realisation and surprise, but O'Neill's expression quickly turned to number 35, Elemental force of Anger, he was _not_ happy.

"You messed with my mind!?!"

"I had to! I had no time to explain that I wanted to help you! I needed you to trust me, or I and my people were DEAD!" Enerina jumped up off the chair, and strode towards O'Neill, shouting in his face, all the anger in the room fuelling her ire. 

"Do you know what happens when a Goa'uld takes an empath as a host?" She shouted, "You get a psychopath who can now sense others emotions, _unless it's their first host!_" 

She took a calming breath, "At which point you have a Goa'uld who can sense others emotions and is still sane enough… Is still sane enough to know what it truly means. When I feel the emotions of the Goa'ulds I sense darkness, evil, a black oiliness that overwhelms and corrupts everything it touches. I sense the slaves, the animals the knowledge of my ancestors calls them and I sense more light, more purity than I have ever sensed from a Goa'uld, be they Tok'ra or system lord. Occasionally I will find a heart so pure that to just sense it for a moment makes me feel pure, protected, sheltered," she glanced back up at O'Neill, "everyone of those has looked straight at me as they died and there was no condemnation, no blame, only simple understanding, _do you know how humbling that is_?"

Enerina turned and strode out off the room, pausing only at the entrance as O'Neill called to her, "It's the sarcophagus; repeated use damages the host, releasing chemicals which affect the brains of host and snake, by which time their both already addicted"

Enerina nodded, and left the room, the door swiftly closing behind her, leaving SG-1 to their thoughts.


	10. Reporting To Hammond

Chapter 10: Reporting to Hammond

The Ha'tak, now nicknamed the McCaffrey by Reynolds who according to O'Neill needed to get out more, and stop reading the Tower and The Hive books, settled quickly down by the StarGate. Within moments, SG-1, 11 and the remander of RSG-1 sprinted out of the vessel, and activated the gate, dialling in StarGate command, and stepping through to home. Soon after, Enerina's Jaffa and SG teams 2 & 5 moved out, and began patrolling a perimeter. They intended to be here quite some time.

"Incoming Wormhole!" Master Sergeant Walter Davis shouted out as klaxons and alarms throughout StarGate command sounded.

"Receiving GDO signal, its SG-1 sir"

"Open the iris" Hammond replied, a hint of relief in his voice, "Inform Doctor Frasier" 

With a metallic squeal, the trinium iris split, and opened allowing the three SG-1 teams to step through, making Hammond frown with worry, he noticed quickly that RSG-1 was short a member and that two complete teams were absent. 

"Briefing room now, Sir" O'Neill shouted up to the control room as soon as he had stepped through the gate, making Hammond groan, couldn't SG-1 return from a mission without the shit hitting the fan in some form or other? A tap on his shoulder distracted Hammond just as he was about to leave the control room, and an airman handed him a box of aspirins;

"You might need these, sir" he said, sympathy in his voice.

Hammond thanked the man, and turned back towards the briefing room, thinking it was bad that SG-1 returning from a mission resulted in commiseration gifts from half the base nowadays. Appropriate certainly, he was surprised SG-1 hadn't given him an ulcer already, but still…

"General, we have a serious problem" O'Neill said as soon as he got to the briefing room, not wasting any time, "there's a new snake on the block and he has Colonel Pierce as a host" 

Hammond looked stunned at Colonel O'Neill, this was his greatest nightmare come true, a Goa'uld with all the knowledge of the SGC and even worse, knowledge of the RSS as well, "Are you…?"

"Absolutely certain? Yes, sir!" O'Neill replied caustically.

Hammond swore vividly, then reached for the phone, "Davis, this is Hammond, initiate the Delta-5 protocol, this is NOT a drill"

Hammond slammed the phone down, and turned to O'Neill as Walter Davis voice blared the security alert over the intercom, "Where are SG-2 and 5?"

"PC-679X, with an empathic Goa'uld and her Jaffa, who fought her own father to help us escape"

Hammond blinked, "This report ought to be a bestseller"

Davis dropped the phone back into its hook, Delta-5 protocol? What was that? He reached quickly for the thick folder that was permanently chained to the desk, and flipped through, 'Delta-5, Delta-5, Ahh! Found it!' he glanced quickly through the description and blanched. …assumes SG member taken as a host… …critical security breach… …extreme threat to Earths survival… 

He glanced quickly at the instructions; recall all off-world teams, full security sweep of base, reset all GDO frequencies and codes… It was going to be a busy week.

He reached for the intercom, and flicked it on, "Security Alert! Delta-5 Protocol is now in effect! Siler to the gateroom!"


	11. Missions

Chapter 11: Missions

"Understood Sir" Major Penhall switched off his radio as the gate deactivated, and trudged back to the McCaffrey. O'Neill had obviously been very persuasive; Hammond had decided to trust Enerina, for the moment at least.

He found Enerina in the engine room, checking over the modified engines of this Ha'tak, faster they might be but according to Enerina they were temperamental and needed to be watched closely. 

"Enerina"

She stood up, and looked worriedly at Penhall.

"Just got word from command, a warship, the Dauntless was just sent to Alpha Centauri and we are to rendevous there, Hammond has decided to trust you"

"Where is Alpha Centauri?"

"Trinary star, closest planetary system to earth"

Enerina nodded, that was enough to tell her which system it was on her star charts, but first…

"I have 100 Jaffa to pick up at Chi'hin'zi, preferably before Maktenos orders them killed. These Jaffa are loyal to me, and he knows it"

"Maktenos?"

"The Goa'uld who has your man as host"

Penhall swore at the reminder, then asked "Where is Chi'hin'zi?"

Enerina and Penhall moved quickly to the bridge, where Enerina pointed the system out on the star charts. 

Penhall nodded, this could be useful…

"New Tollana is here, Tanith destroyed it almost a year ago now, it's pretty close, we could check for survivors"

"Agreed" she strode over to the controls, and moved the Ha'tak off the planet and towards Chi'hin'zi.


	12. New Tollana

Chapter 12: New Tollana

Penhall stepped out of the Tel'tac and onto the remains of new Tollana's primary city with a curse. The place had pretty much been levelled, and whilst plants were starting to grow within the ruins, he saw no sign of survivors. Nor had any of the ion cannons survive, which was a real pity. They could have used those, even if they couldn't reverse engineer them. He turned around with a sigh to the SG teams, some of Enerina's Jaffa would have speeded up the search enormously, but any surviving Tollans would _really_ have gone to ground if they saw Jaffa wondering around.

"All right people, you know what to do, spread out" 

As Penhall moved through the rubble, he gained the feeling that he was being watched. He looked around cautiously, but saw no-one. He looked closely at the ruined overhead walkway to his left, and then to the stagnant water to his right, nothing, but in front… he stiffened, and moved quickly forward, stopping and bending to look closer at the ground.

"Someone else is here people! I have a fire, been put out but still hot" he flicked his radio off, and glanced around again. He was being watched, he was sure of it, but where from?

"I am Major Penhall, StarGate Command Team 2, is anyone here?" he shouted into the wind.

He waited, but there was no reply, he tried again but still no response. Sighing he turned to leave just as a clatter of falling rubble alerted him to his watchers. Standing on the rubble of the overhead walkway were about 35 individuals in bedraggled and ruined clothes, the once proud and strong Tollan people reduced to primitives, eking out their survival as best as they could with what little of their technology and knowledge that survived.

"I am Narim, is SG-1 here?"

"Back at the SGC, SG-2 and 5 are here"

Narim turned to his fellow Tollans, "I told you they would come, even if it took them time, they would come for us"

He turned back to Penhall, "We must leave this place, Anubis sends Jaffa to check for survivors at irregular intervals, he will be back"

"Shit!" Penhall cursed, "How many of you are their?"

"32 with me, another 46 somewhere further to the east, that's it"

"Penhall to SG-5, sweep east, roughly 46 survivors in that area, I have 33 here" he clicked the radio off, and turned back to Narim, "We have Ha'tak and a Tel'tac we picked up at Chi'hin'zi, but space will be tight, we have 143 Jaffa and a friendly Goa'uld with us as well, so just grab what you can, I'll call the Ha'tak down now"

'78 survivors out of near enough a million people, Jesus' Penhall thought as he keyed his radio again.


	13. Alpha Centauri

Chapter 13: Alpha Centauri

The two ships dropped with a flash of light out of hyper into the Alpha Centauri system. Instantly, the lone vessel already within the system went to high alert.

"USS _Persephone _to Goa'uld vessels, you are trespassing in a Tau'ri controlled system, surrender immediately or we will engage you"

"Major Penhall, SG-2 responding, these two vessels are allied"

"Authenticate Lima-Alpha-Sierra-four-Tango"

Penhall cursed, naturally they would chose an obscure code, he struggled for a moment to recall the appropriate countersign,

"Bravo-Hotel-Tango- err… Five-Foxtrot"

"Roger that Colonel, we have been expecting you, what's your status?"

"Loaded to the gills with refugees, Jaffa and Tollen, we request immediate medical assistance"

"Roger" came the startled reply, "did you say _Tollen_?"

"They were on our route back; we have 78 survivors in need of priority medical assistance"

"Roger that, an infirmary has been set up planet side, you'll have to send them there, the surviving RSS and SGC medical facilities in the Sol system have topped out"

Penhall stiffened, as if shot between the legs, "Did you say _surviving_?"

"Roger, 5 hours ago a major Goa'uld incursion was repulsed with massive loss of life, all starfighter squadrons are combat ineffective, RSS _Dauntless_ is gone, _Iwo Jima_ is crippled, _ Eisenhower_ damaged, _Thundersdawn _is offline and the list is still getting longer, we're got our ears stuck right to the radios here and we'll let you know as more info comes through"

Penhall looked with shocked eyes at his fellow SG team-members, this was not the welcome home they wanted, or expected. Enerina took the radio from Penhalls nerveless fingers, and flicked it on, carefully following Penhalls movements with the equipment;

"This is Enerina, we have a sarcophagus aboard, do you require it in the Sol system?"

"Negative, Sol system currently using a 'shoot on sight' policy, it is inadvisable to attempt entry"

Penhall shook himself back to the present, and turned to Enerina, "We had best get the Tollan planet side, and then…" Penhall sighed, "And then they will have one hell of a decision to make"


	14. Decisions

Chapter 14: Decisions

Narim was happy, for the moment at least. For the first time in a year he, and his people were properly fed, the Tau'ri were treating them for numerous infections and injuries and whilst their methods were primitive in comparison to what the Tollan were used to, they would be enough to ensure their survival. Three individuals had been placed in Enerina's sarcophagus, having been critically malnourished, but thankfully no others were ill enough to require that. The Tollen knew all too well the effects of the sarcophagus and were eager to avoid the device if possible.

Now Penhall wished to speak with him on a critical matter. Narim half-smiled, well at least it wouldn't be an exchange of technologies he wanted, they had none left to share.

"Narim, I am told you are the senior surviving Tollen?"

"I am the only surviving Tollen who was directly involved with the government, yes" Narim replied, his hands resting in his lap, his face haggard and lean and permanently etched with a haunted expression. 

"What do your people wish to do now?"

"Excuse me?"

"You cannot go to Tollana, or New Tollana, you have lost your technology base, there are only 78 of you left, and you will need help to rebuild.

We can, if you want, arrange contact with the Asgard or the Nox, both of whom are advanced enough for your technology sharing rules not to be an issue, and the Nox have already shown they are willing to help you if asked.

The Asgard have the technology to ensure your small surviving gene pool shouldn't be an issue, but have been weakened by the replicators, skirmishes with Anubis and their own internal genetic problems, something you might have the knowledge, if not the technology any more to help with.

You could decide to set-up on your own, we know of numerous worlds that are available for colonisation, but you have been a technological society for so long that you will undoubtedly have problems with the skills required. Farming, basic metallurgy, woodworking for example.

Your final option is to work with us, we, the RSS and the SGC will do our best to ensure your safety, I have been authorised to offer you a continent on this planet for you to colonise and expand across, and we will help you as much as we can. We may not be as advanced as you are used to but we can teach you the basic skills with few problems. The only caveat is you will be required to help us adapt Goa'uld technologies for our own use.

The decision is yours, and you have a month before the Doctors are likely to clear all of you to leave"


	15. Beginnings

Chapter 15: Beginnings

Colonel O'Neill looked with jaundiced eyes out of Persephone's windows, master of all he surveyed. SG-1 had finally been pulled off duty; it had been coming for a while what with their increased commitments in the Sol system and with the failing health of several of the teams members. Oh, sure they would all still pass a medical, but one more knee injury and O'Neill would be handed a pail and bucket and dumped on the beach, and the rest of the team was generally worn down and battered, to the point where infections most humans would shrug off were landing them in the infirmary.

So the higher ups had decided, no more missions off-world unless absolutely necessary. Carter didn't complain too much, she would miss the excitement but was now head of StarGate Commands growing technical and sciences division, Daniel was still head of Anthropology and Archaeology, Teal'c was shocked with the offer of being Hammond's new second in command. He said he was honoured, but didn't feel he could adequately perform that duty. The glares he was giving the piles of paperwork on Hammonds desk convinced Hammond he meant it, and so Teal'c was now head of training.

O'Neill sighed, and what did he get? An entire solar systems worth of paperwork, that's what. Or to be more accurate, command of the joint RSS/SGC expansion into the Alpha Centauri system. Oh, joy. 

Persephone set down in Ha'tak bay 2 of the massive Goa'uld construction yard found by the RSS in the Alpha system with barely a tap to mark its landing, making O'Neill turn an approving eye on the helmsman. He then turned and made for the airlocks, knowing that his luggage was already being offloaded by the Persephone's crew. He turned at the airlock and stepped through onto the Goa'uld constructed deck, and glanced around. 

He smiled, "Narim! Good to see you! I heard you lot had left for Asgard space"

Narim shrugged, and smiled "Four of our best geneticists survived Tanith's attack. The Asgard were pleased to have them… _ on loan_"

"You stayed?"

"We all did, General" Narim turned and gestured O'Neill ahead, leading him through the corridors to Brigadier General O'Neill's new quarters, "The Nox and Asgard are not human, and while we have no problems with non-humans other than the system lords and Anubis, we would not like to live out our days amongst an alien race. Call it species loyalty"

"Good to have you"

"Thanks to Enerina, and the architects the RSS sent we now have a completed plan for the rebuilding of this facility, I will show it to you when you have settled in"

"Anything interesting?"

Narim laughed, "Oh yes! Very interesting, the universe won't know what's hit it"

That's all folks!

Authors notes:

Once again thanks to JPMwycombe for beta'ing this story.

I do not own, nor do I claim ownership of characters or concepts from StarGate SG-1, Highlander, or Chocky's Challenge.


End file.
